RICCARDO
“Can you just make him shut up!” I yell at Torrie, who is trying to calm down the pup screaming his lungs out in her arms.
And naturally, she is failing at it.
“I don’t know what he has. I have fed him, and he has clean diapers. Maybe he is in pain of some sort,” she tries to justify herself, rocking the pup more in her arms.
“Great,” I groan.
That’s all we needed, another crybaby with a sensitive tummy.
“If you can’t do your job and calm your son properly, fucking leave!” I shout, making her flinch.
“I’m sorry, Rick. He is just not having any of what I try. I’m sorry.” She scurries out of the room as I massage my temple.
She is so useless, I could cry too.
The biggest mistake I ever made was to live up to my duties as a father and reject Artemisia because the stupid she-wolf trapped me with a pup.
I should have just made her lose it.
But Artemisia was so clingy in university that I thought I would be better off with Torrie.
Artemisia also used her head too much. Always too much of a romantic, always with her nose buried in those silly books of hers.
In fact, Torrie never talked back and didn’t have so many demands in regard to her princess treatment as she wasn’t spoiled by her brothers, so I thought it would be more fun.
But it wasn’t.
She quickly became boring as she was even too stupid to live, always clawing onto me because she had some kind of issues.
Also, as I saw Artemisia shift for the first time, I knew that I had fucked up.
As I saw her white fur, with the lilac swirl around one of her back legs, I knew that there was something more to her than I could ever imagine.
But my father had already made a pact with Torrie’s father, and the families were already elated about the heir.
In the end, I was even punished with sons as stupid and weak as her.
The daughters are useless anyway.
So, I decided that I was still going to keep her, even if I had to reject her.
The night I finally got her without her stupid friends, I managed to convince her to stay close to me long enough to be able to drug her drink and make her spend the night with me.
In the next few times, she had to talk to me because she was pressured into it by her family or because she felt shame for us, having betrayed Torrie, I got the best chances to continue to feed the soul-eater worm that I had implanted into her during university to hide my cheating from her.
I had to poison her with it as I discovered that we were mates, to keep her from discovering my cheating.
I’m still going through the damages the idiot did to my pack, and I’m actually elated to see the list of deaths as I can’t wait to send it to the high court.
It’s just a pity he didn’t kill any pups.
That would have brought Artemisia back to me right away.
Just as I’m thinking of a good claim to send in with the list, my phone rings.
“You fucked up,” the deep voice of the Blackwood rumbles out of the phone as soon as I have accepted the call.
“What do you mean?” I laugh, leaning back into my chair. “You chose to attack me. I didn’t do anything.”
He snarls, and I must admit that I’m glad not to be standing in front of him. “Well, you know exactly what you had provoked as you disappeared just in time. Like the coward you are.”
I scoff, wanting to respond but I know better not to do so.
“And thanks to your idiotic move, my brother has now panicked, so we will hold the marking ceremony tonight.”
“What?!” I skyrocket out of my seat. “Are you kidding me?”
“Yeah, because I love chatting with you,” he answers sarcastically, clicking his tongue. “Now we have a problem and this wasn’t planned! Once she is marked by everyone and has marked my brothers back, there will be no chance to bring them down.”
I gulp, sitting back down as I feel my throat tighten. “What are we doing now?”
“Do I have to spell everything out to you?” he asks, snarling. “I already did my part. I had Omegas poisoning Missy, thinking it was my brother and his former Luna wanting it. Edward did his part perfectly as you chose the best person. No one would ever believe him if he saw something important. I could influence my brothers far enough, but they are tough as hell. And the Vampire is still our biggest problem. But I can’t do everything around here. So, call your stupid lap dog and get it going.”
“Sure…” I sigh, rubbing my face. “I’ll call him right away and we will be there in no time.”
“And try not to fuck it up for once. Can you do this?”
“Of course,” I answer stupidly, making him chuckle. “We just need you to waste a bit of time until we get there.”
He scoffs, mocking me once again. “I don’t need to waste time, you will see…”
Balling my hand to a fist, I clench my teeth. “I don’t understand.”
“You don’t have to,” he breathes out annoyed. “Just move!”
As if stung by a bee, I skyrocket to my feet, making me feel cringe. “We’ll do our part.”
“Just do it quickly. I want it resolved, so I can finally take over the pack with my Luna. I would have killed Missy, but you can have her. I’ll have her ready for you, just get her away as fast as possible, so I can finally get my brothers out of the way. I didn’t seal this deal and sell my wolf’s soul away for nothing.”
Sick bastard.
I force down a growl, putting up my best behaviour. “I’m just interested in getting her, and we will be out of your way. We have the perfect plan, trust us.”
“I don’t need to trust you,” he chuckles dryly, lowering his voice to a threatening growl.
“If you fail, I’ll have your head.”